Letter to the Editor: MUA guilty of poor long-range planning

The Washington Township Municipal Utilities Authority has proposed increases in its rates.

The major impact of the MUA decision is there will be more money flowing from the residents to the township’s suppliers of water and takers of waste. What the residents need to know is how much will flow downhill from their wallets to the appointed board of “commissars.”

Residents are being tapped by the budget increases for services. The calculation is slightly complex, because residential rates increase with usage in price levels called “tiers.” The former base rate for sewer use was $58.42 per quarter. The water base rate was $18 — except when I go to my bill for a particular quarter, the use of 9,000 gallons results in a bill of $99.17. The extra costs are because there is a rate for the total gallons used, which must be multiplied and added to the base charges. With the rate increases, what will the 9,000 gallons cost?

What makes this cynic wonder is how and why the revised rates came about. The MUA board seems to have decided in December that in January they would raise the rates. Why did this need to be done quickly? Was this urgency, or was it because the township council appointed a new board member who is not of the same political party as the majority of the other commissioners?

Going back in time, there have been transfers of funds from the MUA to the township budget. The multiple gifts exceed $2 million. Executive Director Angela Grassia was quoted as saying, “We haven’t raised water rates since 2006 and our operating expenses are increasing every year.”

This should tell us something about the budgeting. Has it been in excess since 2006?

There are two problems. One problem is poor long-term planning, which allowed commissioners to be magnanimous with authority funds. The other problem is the MUA board existed as the political playground for the past decades because of the one-party rule in Washington Township. Democratic mayors and council pluralities select their party members to run the MUA.

The MUA chairwoman is the head of the Washington Township Democrat Party. With a Republican council majority starting in 2010, two new MUA commissioners have been appointed. This will foster a change to the one-party rule.

Look at the MUA’s consultants. Its engineer was a contributor to former Mayor Paul Moriarty and current state Sen. Fred Madden’s campaigns.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

No impropriety is alleged, but it is difficult to count the trees when you are on the forest floor.